17A/N: Buckle up, this was intended as a one-shot, but it's now ten chapters and counting. 'XD It's mostly written, so I'll have at least a chapter a week for you! Chapters vary greatly in length for the sake of keeping events somewhat in sync.
Timing-wise, I have it set shortly before Gregor's rescue. I've kept everything canon-compliant (so far) but I also have some theories in here.
Omega was on her back, limbs splayed in all directions. She stared at the leafy branches arching overhead, watching the play of sunbeams in the gently rustling leaves.
She'd been laying there for a while. She couldn't remember how long. Long enough for her back to ache where a rock dug into her spine. Why did she even lay on a rock, anyway?
Omega shifted her elbows so she could move off the rock, only to freeze and gasp when pain shot through her hands. She clenched her eyes and waited until the pain faded to a dull pulse. Then, she carefully lifted her hands and peeked at them.
Her hands and wrists were covered in scratches, dirt, and dried blood. Her sleeves were tattered and torn, with more scratches on her arms. Worst of all, her comm was shattered.
"H-Hunter? Wrecker?" Omega whispered. "Where is everyone?"
Omega vaguely remembered being in the Marauder galley with… Echo, she thought. She tried to remember when they'd gone outside, but only got a pulsing headache in return.
Omega exhaled unsteadily, then narrowed her eyes in determination. Knowing she wouldn't get any answers staring at the sky, Omega used her elbows to push herself up. Biting her lip against a whimper of pain, Omega looked around.
She was in the middle of a forest, at the bottom of a short hill. She could see marks in the grass and broken bushes leading down the hillside to where she laid. Entire trees had been snapped in half and scattered haphazardly down the hillside.
"Echo?" Omega whispered. He'd been the last person she remembered, so he had to be close, right?
But nobody answered or appeared. Omega clenched her jaw, determined to be quiet in the unfamiliar surroundings. She looked down, taking stock of the rest of her body.
The rest of her outfit had a few tears, but there weren't any major cuts. She was missing her left boot and sock, though, revealing a bruised and swollen foot. Moving her leg brought yet another twinge of pain, and Omega knew her ankle was at least sprained.
The whimper finally escaped Omega. She was hurt, alone, and had no idea where she was! She didn't think it could get any worse.
Snap!
Omega scurried backward at the snap of a twig, panic masking the pain in her limbs. She tried to stand on her good leg as the sound of footsteps approached, but her shaking arms couldn't hold her. Omega fell heavily onto the leafy ground.
The footsteps silenced.
Omega instinctively held her breath. Hunter said if she was alone and lost, then she was supposed to remain quiet. If it was her brothers looking for her, they'd call out.
Instead, the footsteps advanced even more slowly.
Omega frantically looked for someplace to hide. The toppled trees would make a decent hiding place, if she could get to them.
A coarse shout from behind prompted Omega into motion. She scrambled on her hands and knees to the nearest tree, alarm shooting through her when she saw there wasn't room for her to hide.
"There!" an unfamiliar voice shouted.
Omega squeaked and spun.
Two strangers, a human and a Trandoshan, stood amongst the trees. They wore the ragged clothes and overabundance of weapons of bandits or pirates. And they did not look friendly.
"Well, lookie-here," said the human with an unpleasant sneer.
Omega grabbed the first thing her hand found and held it out, doing her best to not shake. The two bandits didn't look the least bit intimidated by the stick Omega held.
"Looksss like we got oursselvesss a fighter," the Trandoshan laughed.
Omega shifted nervously as they advanced. She couldn't fight them off with a stick; probably not even if she had her bow, wherever it had gone.
Before Omega could think of any sort of plan, a howl burst from the woods behind the bandits, who jumped and turned. Taking advantage of their distraction, Omega spun, eyes darting for a hiding place.
There! A rock jutted out of the hillside, and Omega could make out a small space within its shadows. She crawled quickly for the hole.
"Hey!" the Trandoshan shouted, and Omega heard him run toward her.
Omega was right under the rock when claws stabbed into her bare ankle. She screamed in pained panic, digging her fingers uselessly into the dirt.
Blaster fire came out of nowhere. The bandit grunted, and his claws vanished.
Not bothering to look back, Omega scrambled into the hole. Inside, she found a short tunnel, so she shoved herself in deeper while more blaster fire and shouts rang from outside.
Omega's back hit a wall while she was still in arm's reach of the tunnel opening. A panicked sob escaped her. She was trapped!
Then, Omega's searching hand found a gap in the wall. Omega dropped onto her belly and squeezed herself through the gap, tumbling into an open space. She pushed herself further until her back found a solid wall. She huddled down, wide eyes on the opening.
The sounds of fighting had died down. Omega could hear a murmur of voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. She shuffled closer to the gap and held her breath.
"...even doing?" someone said.
"Sharp said there was a kid here," another voice responded.
"A kid?" repeated the first voice. "Are you sure, Sharp?"
"Yeah," said a third voice, Sharp. "I didn't see where she went, though."
"Spread out," said the first voice. "She must have gotten scared and hid."
Omega shivered. She was safe from the bandits, but she didn't recognize the new voices, so she wasn't entirely safe yet.
Plus, all the crawling around had torn the cuts on her hands open again. Omega squinted in the darkness at her hands, feeling blood trailing from her palms and fingers.
"Hey."
The soft voice made Omega jump and yelp. Lifting her head, she saw someone looking down the tunnel. She scrambled backward.
"S-stay back," Omega stammered.
"It's okay, you're safe," the stranger said.
"Sharp? You find her?" asked one of the voices.
"Yeah, Comet, she's in here."
Omega pushed herself against the wall, unable to suppress a whimper when her injured ankle scraped against something small and rough. The face looked semi-familiar, but Omega couldn't see him clearly enough to be sure.
"Hey, hey, you're safe. My name's Sharp, I'm a friend," he soothed. "What are you doing here all alone, anyway?"
"I-I'm not alone," Omega said with a scowl.
"Okay, that's a start," Sharp said, still in his soothing tone. "Did you crash? We were following a crash trail when we saw you."
Omega opened her mouth, then paused. What crash?
"It was yours, wasn't it?" Sharp guessed. "That must have been pretty scary."
"I'm not scared," Omega said before realizing how obvious her lie was.
"Of course not," came Howl's voice. "You were pretty brave standing up against those pirates."
"That's my brother, Howl," Sharp said. "Who are you traveling with?"
Omega shifted. "My brothers."
"We'll help you find them," Sharp promised. "How about you come out?"
Omega considered him. He sounded genuine enough… but so had Fennec Shand. Then again, Sharp probably didn't know who she was…
"O-okay, I'm coming out," Omega said hesitantly.
Omega crawled slowly toward the gap, wincing when her injured leg dragged. Sharp nodded encouragingly and stood.
Omega froze when Sharp's motions moved familiar white-and-gray armor into view. At the same time, Sharp moving away cleared Omega's view of his companions. Omega recognized the helmets, and she suddenly realized that she did know Sharp's face.
Omega threw herself back, screaming the first name that came to mind, "Echo!"
"Woah, woah!" Sharp dropped back into view. "What's wrong?"
"Get back!" Omega spat at the clone, fighting to keep the tears out of her voice. "Echo! Echo, where are you?!"
A/N: I've got a fair mix of canon and OCs in this. Sharp and Howl are OCs, while Comet is canon.